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Rodney Brooks stressed how the first nation that embraces new robot technology in their industries will have huge economic advantages over other nations. (he's
by pilgrim689 15y ago
Rodney Brooks stressed how the first nation that embraces new robot technology in their industries will have huge economic advantages over other nations. (he's a highly influential roboticist, MIT AI researcher, co-founder of the company that makes the Roomba and other robots (military mostly)).
He stated in a conference (2009) that for robots to be successful in manufacturing, they needed :
1- object recognition skill of a 2 year old child
2- language capability of a 4 year old
3- manual dexterity of a 6 year old
4- social understanding of an 8 year old
I guess Foxconn is eyeing robots that are close to reaching those numbers.
ref. : conference I mentionned: http://fora.tv/2009/05/30/Rodney_Brooks_Remaking_Manufacturing_With_Robotics http://fora.tv/2009/05/30/Rodney_Brooks_Remaking_Manufacturi...
- burgerbrain 15y agoSurely robots are already successful in manufacturing. Just look at.. well.. just about anything you own that has a weld in it.. I guess that's not the cool sort of robotics though.
- pilgrim689 15y agoOh yes, definitely. The robots used, however, are still "first generation", so to speak. They do not adapt to the product. They are designed to build one thing, to automate one task, and they do that (insert screw of shape X into hole of shape Y). What Brooks speaks of is a new generation of robots. Robots that can be shipped from a factory that builds iPods to a factory that builds car wheels. They take way less space than the first generation, and they adapt. So if your product decides it's going to use nails instead of screws, you don't need to redesign your robot line. In the US, it's mostly behaviour-based AI that got a big push at MIT in the 90s and have been used in the US military for the passed decade... seems like they're ready for manufacturing now :D